UNCHAIN THE WOMEN DIRECTORS! - HOLLYWOOD BILLBOARD

The 500-pound gorilla in Hollywood isn't King Kong—it's discrimination against women directors!

2006 Press Release (See our update in 2012, which appeared in the March issue of Interview Magazine, with even worse statistics.)

THE GUERRILLA GIRLS AND MOVIES BY WOMEN UNVEIL A NEW BILLBOARD AT SUNSET AND CAHUENGA IN HOLLYWOOD, FEB 1-MARCH 5, 2006

We took Kong, gave him a sex change and a designer gown, and set her up in Hollywood, just a few blocks from where the Oscars will be awarded March 5, 2006.

Why? To reveal the sordid but True Hollywood Story about the lack of women and people of color behind the scenes in the film industry:

Only 7% of 2005’s 200 top-grossing films were directed by women.

Only 3 women have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Direction (Lina Wertmuller (1976), Jane Campion (1982,) and Sofia Coppola (2003). None has won.

More embarrassing Hollywood statistics:

Of 2004”s top-grossing films:*

5% had female directors
12% had female writers
3% had female cinematographers 16% had female editors

Only 8 people of color have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Direction. None has won.

Hollywood guilds are 80 to 90 % white.

Only 3% of the Oscars for acting have been won by people of color.

In the 21st century, low, low, low numbers like this HAVE to be the result of discrimination, unconscious, conscious or both. Hollywood likes to think of itself as cool, edgy and ahead of its time, but it actually lags way behind the rest of society in employing women and people of color in top positions.

There may be women heading studios these days, but what are they doing for women and people of color? Why do they keep the white male film director stereotype alive? Here’s an easy way to change things: open up that boys' club and hire more women and people of color. It worked in medicine, business and law. It worked in the art world. Now it's Hollywood's turn. Rattle that cage, break those chains! LET WOMEN DIRECT!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS BILLBOARD, INCLUDING LOTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND THE FOLLOWING ORGS:
MoviesByWomen.com
Guerrilla Girls
New York Women in Film and Television and all of their supporters
Alliance of Women Directors
Women Make Movies
Women in Film
The Fund for Women Artists
Films42.com
In the Trenches Productions
WITASWAN
CineWomen - L.A.
CineWomenNY
Bitch Magazine
The Edit Studio Flaming Angel Films

UNCHAIN THE WOMEN DIRECTORS! (SPANISH) - MEXICO CITY BILLBOARD

AT THE HOTEL VIRREYES, MEXICO CITY, DECEMBER 2006

We did appearances in Mexico City from December 4-7, 2006, culminating in the unveiling of this banner on the facade of the historic Hotel Virreyes in the Centro Historico—now an artists' center and artists' residence—sponsored by Centro de Artes, Humanidades y Ciencias en Transdisciplina S.C. (CACHTAS)

THE FUTURE FOR TURKISH WOMEN ARTISTS

In Istanbul, coffee grounds are used to tell people's fortunes. Above is what we discovered at the bottom of a cup of Turkish coffee.

THIS IS ONE OF SEVEN POSTERS IN AN EXHIBITION THAT OPENED IN OCTOBER, 2006 AT THE ISTANBUL MODERN MUSEUM, CURATED BY ROSA MARTINEZ.

HORROR ON THE NATIONAL MALL! Thousands of women locked in basements of D.C. museums!

Blake Gopnik, chief art critic of the Washington Post, asked us to create a full page in the newspaper as part of a special section on feminism and art published April 22, 2007.

We designed a tabloid, NOT OK!, The Guerrilla Girls' Scandal Rag, toreveal the shocking truth about the low, low number of women and artists of color in our national art museums. Plus, with the help of Brangelina (no tabloid is complete without them) we show the Smithsonian how to atone for its bad behavior.

We got all our statistics from the museums themselves or from their websites, but when the Post called to fact check, the institutions went bananas! The National Gallery hurriedly installed a sculpture by an artist of color and the Hirshhorn suddenly found works by women and artists of color it never knew it owned! Who knows how many works they're scrambling to install right now? Let's all keep up the pressure!

DEAR COLLECTOR....WE KNOW YOU FEEL TERRIBLE

We’ve left a little note for collectors who will be descending on Athens, Greece, for the Art Athina International Art, May 30 – June 3, 2007.

DEAR ART COLLECTOR (CHINESE)

DEAR COLLECTOR....WE KNOW THAT YOU FEEL 'UNCOMFORTABLE'....

We translated our 'Dear Collector' poster into Chinese for collectors arriving at the Shanghai Contemporary 07 New International Contemporary Art Fair in September.These are two of four posters we created for the project "Public Viewing" organized by Littman Kulturprojeket, Basel/Switzerland.

DEAREST ELI BROAD

THE BIRTH OF FEMINISM, ROTTERDAM BANNER

THE BIRTH OF FEMINISM in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

As part of the group exhibition BODY POLITICX at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Arts in Rotterdam we hung a three story long banner version of our movie poster 'Birth of Feminism.' More info.

MUSEUMS UNFAIR TO MEN!

MUSEUMS CAVE IN TO RADICAL FEMINISTS!